Our Story: Aboriginal Voices on Canada's Past Read Online Free

bigger. She was carrying twin boys. One was right-handed and had a good mind. The other was left-handed and had an evil mind. When the time came for them to be born, they began to argue about how they should leave her body.
    â€œThey could feel their mothers body pushing them outside. But the left-handed twin wanted to go out through his mother’s side. The right-handed twin argued with his brother, trying to get him to follow him as he left. But the left-handed twin wouldn’t listen and he tore his way out through his mother’s side, and this killed her.
    â€œSo then the woman who fell from the sky buried her daughter and her body became one with the earth. From the head of her grave grew Ó:nenhste, Ohsahè:ta, and Onon’òn:sera.”
    Shonkwaya’tíson pointed at the plant life growing nearby. “There they are,” he said. He pointed to the thin stalk that was taller than the human beings, its long leaves filled with tender kernels. He pointed as well to the vine of pointed leaves that twined up around the tall stalk bearing long, thin pods filled with seeds. He then pointed to the big-leafed vine that surrounded the stalk, shading its large gourds.
    â€œThese three sister beings are the foods you will use above all others to keep you alive. And those there,” he said, pointing to a cluster of many different green growing things, “are Onónhkwa. They carry the medicines that you can use to make yourself well when you are sick, just as the sky-woman did before she entered this world.
    â€œAnd one of the medicines,” he added, “is that one, Niyohontéhsha, the one with a heart-shaped red fruit. It is sweet to eat and its juice is sweetto drink. Remember it well because a time will come when the plant life you see around you will stop growing and the earth will be covered by a cold white blanket for a long time. A wind from the south will bring warmth back to the land and the plant beings will grow again. Remember Niyohontéhsha, because it will be the first of the life-sustainers to appear when the cold time is over, and it will be a sign that more foods will come.
    â€œAnd that there,” Shonkwaya’tíson said, pointing to a broad-leafed plant with many small seed pods, “is Oyèn:kwa. It grew from where the heart of the daughter was buried. Its leaves are a messenger. You will need them one day to send your messages to me, because soon I will journey to the sky-world. You will put your thoughts into the dried leaves and put the leaves into a fire, and the smoke from the fire will carry your words to me.”
    The human beings sat there trying to absorb and understand it all, still saying nothing, so Shonkwaya’tíson continued.
    â€œThe woman who fell from the sky was sad and angry over her daughter’s death and she called her grandsons to her. She named the right-handed twin Tharonhyawá:kon. She named the left-handed twin Thawíhskaron.”
    â€œThe grandmother then asked the twins which one had killed her daughter. The left-handed one lied and said it was Tharonhyawá:kon who had killed their mother. He tricked his grandmother into believing him, so he became the twin she liked best. The grandmother then became angry with the right-handed twin, and she made him leave their lodge and live in the forest.”
    The thought of the woman sending her grandson away shocked the human beings.
    â€œA great wrong was done to that boy that day,” the glowing man-being said. Pausing slightly, he added, “And that boy was me.”
    The man and the woman were stunned. They looked at each other and looked at the glowing man-being, blinking, mouths open, struggling to comprehend everything that they had been told. Finally the woman said, “So you are the right-handed twin. You are Tharonhyawá:kon.”
    â€œYes,” he replied, “I am the right-handed twin. I am Tharonhyawá:kon. It was my grandmother